Happy Summer
By Almudena Grandes
(This essay on summer by the late Spanish writer Almudena Grandes is so beautiful I wanted to translate it for you all here. It first appeared in the Spanish newspaper El PaĆs on 6 July 2012.)
There are many good things that come free. Walking early in the morning, when the sun is tender, timid as the breeze that flirts with the leaves of the trees. Walking at dawn through streets as full of people as in the winter noon, to be amazed at the silent euphoria of the couples who kiss on the benches, or leaning on the pillars of the porticoed squares. Those who live near the sea have it easy, but it is also a party to put the food planned at home to be consumed in a lunch box, dispatch it on a blanket, on the grass of a park, and then lie down in the shade. Attend the concerts of the bands that usually play in kiosks in parks and main squares on Sunday mornings. And frequent public libraries, while they last.
There are many good things that come very cheap. A bottle of wine to drink slowly, at home, at sunset and with friends. A good paperback, providing an emotion that lasts longer than wine and costs about as much. A summer cinema, the ideal place to hold hands. A portion of Russian salad and two beers, on the terrace of any bar, before or after the summer cinema. Falling in love is an even cheaper miracle, though so expensive that it cannot be manufactured.
Summer is the time of happiness. Hurry up and don't think about the winter that awaits us. Because our grandparents had it much worse than us and if they had not lived, if they had not known how to enjoy life, if they had not fallen in love in terrible times, we would not be here. If there is one thing that we Spaniards know how to do well, it is to be poor. We have almost always been, but that has not made us more miserable or sadder than others. Remember it and be happy, because happiness is also a way of resisting.